Daal Doing the Job, but He Still Wants to Start

In another clubhouse, or in the Dodger clubhouse of a year or two ago, veteran left-hander Omar Daal would have been a distraction. The fact he is not a distraction despite his dissatisfaction with pitching out of the bullpen and his repeated requests to be traded may be the biggest upset of the season so far.

Instead of scorn, Daal has been praised by teammates and coaches, because whatever disagreements he has with the organization, whatever frustration he has with his role, he has not taken them to the mound.

That was evident again Thursday night when Daal threw three perfect innings in the Dodgers’ 3-2, 14-inning victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Daal, who won two starts in place of the injured Kevin Brown in late April, replaced Paul Quantrill to start the 11th and struck out four of nine batters. Afterward, Daal, who makes $5 million this season, reiterated his desire to be a starting pitcher or to be traded.

“I just have to keep pitching and see if another team notices what I’m doing,” Daal said. “I can help the Dodgers as a reliever, but I want to be a starter; I deserve to be a starter. They know I’m not happy, but I’m showing I’m a professional. When the game starts, I clear my mind of everything else and concentrate on winning.”

Daal is 3-0 with a 1.09 earned run average and has played a significant role in five Dodger wins this season, two as a starter and three as a reliever.

With Brown and Andy Ashby recovering from elbow surgery and few attractive options at triple-A Las Vegas--the 51s scored 45 runs in a three-game series and were still swept by Colorado Springs this week--the Dodgers plan to hold onto Daal as rotation insurance.

“What he’s done is absolutely awesome; you respect it, and you marvel at it,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “I understand his feelings, but we feel very strongly that we have six starters on this club, and his contributions have been invaluable.... The professionalism he’s displayed is off the charts.”

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The Dodgers don’t have an abundance of power, so to maximize their offense, they must do the little things right--advance runners with bunts or groundouts, score runners from third with less than two outs, run the bases aggressively.

But there has been one glaring weakness of late--in eight games through Thursday night, Dodger pitchers failed to advance runners with sacrifice bunts seven times, though Odalis Perez, after missing two bunt attempts, did move a runner from second to third with a grounder to the right side April 26.

“There’s a couple of pitchers who can improve on their bunting, and Maury [Wills, Dodger roving instructor] will work with them,” Tracy said. “It’s very important for this team [to get good bunts down], and I’ve spoken to them about it. A 100% success ratio is impossible, but will we be above the major league norm? Yes.”

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

KAZUHISA ISHII

(5-0, 3.03 ERA)

vs.

CUBS’

JASON BERE

(1-3, 6.48 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 7 p.m.

TV--Channel 13.

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

Update--Ishii was named National League rookie of the month for April after going undefeated in his first five games, the best start by a Dodger starting pitcher since Orel Hershiser went 6-0 to begin the 1988 season. Ishii has benefited from the second-best run support in the league--the Dodgers average 6.98 runs per nine innings in the games he has started.